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SECONDARY AND HIGHER 
EDUCATION IN THE SOUTH 

FOR 

WHITES AND NEGROES 

By 
DR. HORACE BUMSTEAD 




SECONDARY AND HIGHER EDUCATION 
IN THE SOUTH 

FOR 

WHITES AND NEGROES 

By Dr. Horace Bumstead 

The special task of the present paper is to present a comparative view 
of what is being done for the two races in the South in the way of Second- 
ary and Higher Education. The facts presented will be drawn chiefly 
from the latest report of the United States Commissioner of Education, 
giving the statistics for the year ending July, 1 909. These statistics 
are doubtless at some points incomplete and inaccurate, and sometimes 
they appear inconsistent with one another. Yet, in spite of these defi- 
ciencies, the total impression which they make cannot be very far from 
the truth. 

The field of enquiry covers the former sixteen Slave States and the 
District of Columbia ; but in a few of the tables quoted there are included 
figures from two or three of the Northern States where separate schools 
for Negroes are maintained, as at the South. 

In studying the comparisons presented, it should be borne in mind that, 
roughly speaking, the population of the territory covered is approximately 
two white persons to one colored. If the two races were in an equally 
favorable economic condition, so that the Negroes could, equally with the 
whites, afford the expense of time and money in giving their children the 
advantages of an education beyond the elementary branches, we should 
expect to find a fully proportionate provision made for their Secondary 
and Higher Education. It is here, however, that we find the only con- 
sideration which can justify any disproportion of opportunity; and it can 
do this only temporarily. For the time has passed for anyone to seriously 
question the ability of Negro youth to acquire and use profitably the 
advanced education. Moreover, it is the part of wisdom, as well as of 
justice, for the State and the benevolent public to anticipate, rather than 
wait for, the improvement of the Negro's economic condition, in offering 
opportunities for the higher studies ; for, by doing so, the present inequality, 
a source of many evils to the community, will be more quickly removed, 
and the latent and undeveloped productive power of the Negroes be the 
sooner utilized for the prosperity of the State. 

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While, then, we frankly concede that some disparity of opportunity 
is for the present inevitable, and perhaps excusable, it is well for us to 
ask, as we study the figures, whether the disparity which we shall discover 
is not very much greater than can be justified on any reasonable ground. 

PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOLS 

We will consider, first, the provision made for the public high school 
training of whites and Negroes in the South. According to the report 
of the United States Commissioner of Education there were in the South 
last year attending public high schools, 142,837 white youth and 6,443 
colored. In other words, while there are only twice as many white 
people as Negroes in the South, there were more than twenty-two times 
as many white youth in public high schools. 

As to the number of public high schools, the whites have 2,088 and 
the blacks 112, or the whites more than eighteen times as many as the 
blacks. 

PRIVATE HIGH SCHOOLS 

Let us now turn to the private high schools for the two races, as 
reported by the United States Commissioner. He tells us that in these 
private schools there are 27,539 white pupils and 3,105 colored, or nearly 
nine times as many white as colored. It will be noticed that the disparity 
here, while great, is not so great as in the case of the public high schools, 
and this fact is not without its significance. For it means that the colored 
people are actually paying for the Secondary Education of their children 
in private schools in a larger proportion, numerically, than are the white 
people. And this is confirmed by a further examination of the figures 
which have already been given. For we find that of the total number 
of white children receiving Secondary Education in the South, only sixteen 
per cent, are receiving it in private schools, while of the total number of 
black children receiving such education, thirty-two per cent, are receiving 
it in private schools — or twice as large a proportion as among the whites. 
This can only mean one or both of two things: either that the public 
school provision for the Secondary Education of Negro children is inade- 
quate to the demand for such education, or else that the provision made 
is so inferior that the Negro parents prefer to pay for the better provision 
offered to them by the private schools. Both of these explanations are 
doubtless true. 

PUBLIC AND PRIVATE COLLEGES 

Passing on to consider the collegiate education of white and colored 
youth as supported by public funds, we have to remember that the only 

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public institutions doing this work are the State Universities and Technical 
Schools and the Agricultural and Mechanical Colleges, the latter being 
largely maintained by funds from the United States Government. The 
number of white students receiving collegiate training in these institutions 
is reported as 16,086, and the number of colored as 974, i. e., the whites 
have more than sixteen times as many as the colored. But even these 
figures do not tell the whole story. For, of the sixteen colored institu- 
tions named, four report no collegiate students whatever, while three others 
report only two, five, and ten respectively. It is a well known fact that 
collegiate studies are not encouraged in the Negro State institutions of 
the South, and in one or more of them they have been discontinued after 
having once been introduced. 

It is, then, to the private institution that we must look for whatever 
effective work has been done for the collegiate education of Negroes. 
Here, again, when we make a comparison with the white colleges, we 
find conditions similar to those which characterized the Secondary Educa- 
tion. For, while the Negroes had 3,2 I 1 collegiate students in their private 
institutions, the whites had 29,840, or more than nine times as many. 
And, on the other hand, while of the total number of white collegiate 
students, 65 per cent, were being educated in private institutions, and 35 
per cent, in public ones, of colored collegiate students, nearly 77 per cent, 
were being educated in private institutions and only about 23 per cent. 
in public ones. Thus it appears that the poorer race is willing to pay, or 
has to pay, or both, in larger proportion than the richer race, for the 
private instruction of its youth beyond the elementary grades, in both second- 
ary and collegiate branches. 

INDUSTRIAL AND AGRICULTURAL TRAINING 

Thus far we have considered the matter of general education in 
secondary and higher studies. Let us now enquire what is being done 
in the South for the industrial and agricultural training of the two races. 
There are no statistics of such work in the elementary schools, and prob- 
ably very little is being done except in a few isolated localities. We 
turn, then, to the reports of public high schools, of which fifty-five in the 
Southern States are reported as having 6,707 students in manual or tech- 
nical training courses. Only two of these schools are colored, one in 
Kansas City, Mo., which is more a Western than a Southern city, and 
the other in New Orleans, La., which is, in fact, the Land-Grant College 
of Louisiana, doing the high-school work of the city. It thus appears 
that most of the South is doing nothing, or next to nothing, for industrial 
training in colored public high schools. 

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We next find in the United States Commissioner's report a list of 
ninety-two special schools, both public and private, for manual and indus- 
trial training in the South, of which a dozen or so are designated, or 
recognizable, as colored schools. Aside from the fact that, apparently, 
seven-eighths of these schools are for white and one-eighth for colored 
pupils, no fair comparisons can be made, because of the uncertainty and 
incompleteness of the data. 

THE LAND-GRANT COLLEGES 

An opportunity for fair comparisons is found, however, in the Commis- 
sioner's report of the Agricultural and Mechanical Colleges for the two 
races. These are the so-called "Land-Grant Colleges," sustained in large 
part by funds received from the United States Government. There are 
reported to have been in attendance, last year, at the white colleges in the 
South, 10,529 students, and at the colored 1,772, or nearly six times 
as many at the white as at the colored. In stricUy agricultural training 
the whites had 1,123 students and the colored 1,442, but of the latter 
more than half were in Hampton Institute and the Oklahoma College, 
leaving only 644 for the rest of the South. Can it be said that this repre- 
sents the relative demand for industrial and agricultural education as 
between the two races? It certainly cannot, when we read in the Com- 
missioner's report the statistics of the 1 35 Secondary and Higher Schools 
for the Colored Race, most of them private institutions. Among them 
are included fourteen of the colored Land-Grant colleges, whose statistics 
should, therefore, in making the comparison, be deducted. But, leaving 
these out, we find that the remaining 121 are giving industrial training 
to 1 9, 1 02 colored students, or more than ten times as many as are 
receiving it in the Land-Grant colleges — indeed, nearly twice as many as 
the white Land-Grant colleges are giving it to white students. If, then, 
colored parents are willing to pay for the industrial education of their 
children in private institutions in ten cases out of eleven, it is clear that 
the Land-Grant colleges are not offering facilities for such education 
sufficient in quantity, or good enough in quality, to attract the attendance 
of colored students. 

DIVISION OF THE LAND-GRANT FUNDS 

Let us now examine the financial support of the Land-Grant colleges 
on the part of the United States Government and the States themselves. 
The colleges were originally endowed by Congress in the Act of 1 862 
from the sale of public lands apportioned to the several States. It was 

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to be used for "the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes," 
and none of it could be used for land or buildings or for the manage- 
ment or disbursement of the funds — all of which must be paid for out 
of the treasuries of the States. When the original grant was increased 
by Congress in the Acts of 1890 and 1907— ($25,000 a year to each 
State, now in process of increase to $50,000 a year) — it was provided 
that this additional (and much larger) grant must be used, in each State, 
either in an institution which receives both white and black students, or 
else be given, "by a just and equitable division," to separate institutions 
for the two races. The plan for such "just and equitable division" was 
to be proposed and reported by the State Legislature to the Secretary of 
the Interior and, presumably, approved by him before he drew his warrant 
upon the Secretary of the Treasury for the payment of the money. 

Let us now see how far this requirement has been met. According to 
the report of the Commissioner, there was paid last year, under the Acts 
of 1890 and 1907, to the white Land-Grant colleges in the South, the 
sum of $433,483; and to the colored, $161,517. This means that the 
colored people, with a third of the population, got only a little more than 
a quarter of the fund; while the white people, with two-thirds of the 
population, got nearly three-quarters of it. Taken by itself, this would 
not be so great an injustice, and might be excused, in part, by the present 
difference in the economic and educational advancement of the two races. 
But it cannot be considered by itself, for we have to remember that the 
original endowment of the Land-Grant colleges, under the Act of 1862, 
was, unfortunately, not guarded, as were the additions in the later acts, by 
a requirement for "a just and equitable division" of the fund between 
the two races in the South, though it would seem that a sense of justice 
and fair play would dictate such a division, even though not legally 
required. We learn, however, from the Commissioner's report, that of 
the original fund, under the Act of 1862. the white colleges received 
last year $175,712, and the colored $24,153 — i. e., the whites received 
more than seven times as much as the colored. Even this small amount 
went to only four of the sixteen colored colleges — the other twelve receiv- 
ing nothing whatever from this original fund. 

STATE SUPPORT OF THE LAND-GRANT COLLEGES 

Nor is this all. For we must also bear in mind that the funds from 
the United States Government are in the nature of national aid to State 
institutions for whose general support the States themselves are chiefly 
responsible. What, then, are the States themselves doing for these col- 
leges, when left entirely free to act without restriction from the General 

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Government? We are informed by the Commissioner that last year 
they appropriated to the white colleges for current expenses, $1,1 90,9 1 7 ; 
and to the colored, $259,950 — i. e., nearly four and a half times as much 
for the white as for the colored. They also appropriated for buildings 
to the white colleges, $548,966; and to the colored, $94,941, or nearly 
six times as much to the white as to the colored. 

THE TRAINING OF TEACHERS 

It remains for us now to enquire what is being done in the South in 
the way of normal work for the specific training of teachers for the public 
schools — a work of even greater importance than the industrial, because 
it concerns the intelligence of the entire mass of school children, regardless 
of their prospective careers, and is something on which the success of 
even their industrial or other special training must depend. It is amazing 
that its great relative importance is not more generally recognized. 

The Commissioner of Education reports 193 public normal schools in 
the South, of which only fourteen are designated, or recognizable, as col- 
ored, and some of these are merely departments of the Land-Grant colleges 
already considered. But including them, the whites have nearly thirteen 
limes as many public normal schools as the colored. In these schools, the 
whites have, in training courses for teachers, 1 7,308 students, and the 
blacks, 2,364, or the whites more than seven times as many as the colored. 

The Commissioner also reports sixty- four private normal schools in the 
South. Of these, twenty-one are colored, with 2,312 students, and 
twenty-three are white, with 1 , 1 ^8 students. It thus appears that, when 
it comes to paying for normal instruction, colored parents are ready to 
support almost exactly the same number of private normal schools as the 
whites, and in these schools instruct, in teacher-training courses, more 
than twice as many students. Or, to put it differently, of all the normal 
students in both public and private normal schools, less than five per cent, 
of the white and nearly fifty per cent, of the colored are being trained 
in private normal schools. 

Impressive as are the official figures already given, their real significance 
will be more clearly understood if we look at the concrete conditions in 
a few of the leading Southern cities, as learned from private sources, sup- 
plemented by some local school reports. I have in this way secured infor- 
mation from Petersburg, Va., Charleston, S. C, Savannah, Augusta, 
Athens, and Atlanta, Ga. , Jacksonville, Fla., New Orleans, La., Chatta- 
nooga and Memphis, Tenn., and Jefferson City, Mo. Here are eleven 
cities that are fairly representative of the South. 



In only five of these cities is there any high school work provided 
for Negroes. These are Petersburg, Athens, Jacksonville, Chattanooga, 
and Memphis. Only one of these has a separate high school building 
for Negroes, and that is Memphis. And even in Memphis, the colored 
high school building cost but $9,000, while the white high school building 
cost $150,000. (In the other four cities the high school instruction is 
given to a comparatively few Negroes in the grammar school buildings.) 
In Memphis, industrial training is provided for the high schools of both 
races, but the colored high school salaries range from $65 to $ 1 05 
monthly, while the white salaries range from $80 to $200. My informant 
says that in Nashville, Tenn., more equal provision is made for the two 
races. 

Let us now look more in detail at three Georgia cities. In Savannah 
there is one high school for the whites and none for the colored. The 
white high school has a fine new building with massive Ionic columns of 
Indiana limestone and carved figures in the front pediment, also of lime- 
stone. The walls and floors are sound proof. The heating and artificial 
ventilation are so arranged as to supply each pupil with thirty cubic feet 
of tempered and filtered air per minute, thus excluding street dust and 
disease germs. The building is wired for electric light, and at each 
teacher's desk is a telephone communicating with Superintendent's and 
Principal's offices and all parts of the building. These details are derived 
from the Superintendent's latest report, which also gives this further infor- 
mation: The whites have, besides this high school, nine elementary public 
schools to the Negroes' four; yet the time is not far distant, the report 
says, when the whites will need another school building. After stating 
this need, the Superintendent, a recent incumbent, presents the urgent need 
of more school room for the Negroes' children, for whom no enlargement 
has been made for several years, while their numbers have considerably 
increased, so that a new school would furnish an education for a large 
number of colored children who cannot now be admitted to the public 
schools at all. And yet there has been money enough in the city treasury 
for all the adornments and luxuries of the high school building for the 
whites. 

Augusta, Ga., has a public high school for white girls and a private 
academy for white boys, soon to be taken over by the city, if negotiations 
which have been begun are successful. It has no high school work for 
Negroes, has abolished its eighth grade of grammar school work, and 
the abolition of the seventh grade also is recommended by the President 
of the Board of Education. It once had the "Ware High School" for 
Negroes, but abolished this many years ago. It has a training school 

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for white teachers, but none for colored. About 2,500 (or less than half) 
of the Negro children are in the city public schools, about 1 ,000 are taught 
in private institutions, and about 1 ,800 are in no school at all. To meet 
this situation, land for a new building has been bought in the heart of 
the Negro population, and the President of the Board proposes to erect 
the building as follows: He says, "The material from the old Fifth 
Ward White School could well be used in the erection of a new building 
there, and plans have already been made looking to a removal of this 
building and the conversion of it into a Negro school. . . . The expense 
of a new building need not be great, and the opportunity of securing it by 
using the old Fifth Ward school is before us. We can save money by 
using what we have." In another place the President says: "It is the 
correct policy of the Board to provide elementary education for as large 
a number of Negroes as possible, and leave them to pursue a higher 
education at their own expense, if they desire." The prospect, then, for 
a colored high school in Augusta, is not very bright. 

Atlanta, with its two fine white high schools, one for boys and one for 
girls, and all of its secondary work for Negroes being carried on by 
private institutions, is chiefly interesting for the illustration it once gave of 
the value of the Negro ballot in promoting Negro education. In 1 888 
Col. Thomas Glenn ran for Mayor. This was when the colored vote 
in Atlanta, though not wholly free, was still of some account. Col. Glenn 
said to the Negroes: "Help to elect me and I will see that you have a 
new school house for your children." The Negroes helped to elect him, 
he kept his pledge, and the Grey Street School was built. That was 
twenty-two years ago, and since then no important public school has been 
erected for Negroes in Atlanta. Fifteen years ago an old four-roomed 
dwelling house was bought for a Negro school, two of these rooms being in 
the basement, and still in use, and this building has since been enlarged with 
four additional rooms. Four or five years ago, with the aid of the Negroes, 
the city bought the old Storrs School building from the American Mission- 
ary Association, as it was discontinuing its work in Atlanta. And within 
the last year, since Greater Atlanta has come into existence, four primary 
schools have been added. Less than half of the Negro children of school 
age are able to get any accommodations at all in the public schools of 
Atlanta, even though several of their schools have two separate sets of 
children in morning and afternoon sessions, taught by the same teachers. 
All of the buildings for Negroes are wooden save two, and most of them 
are old and unsanitary. Meantime the white children are comfortably 
provided for. And this slow, and reluctant, and wholly inadequate pro- 
vision for Negro public education in Atlanta during the past score of 

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years, has been contemporaneous with the increasing limitation and sup- 
pression of the Negro's right to vote. 

Such are the facts with regard to the provision made in the South to-day 
for the Secondary and Higher Education of the white and colored youth 
of that section. They are facts vouched for by the United States Com- 
missioner of Education in his latest annual report, and by other competent 
authorities. There may be minor inaccuracies in the statistics; but they 
cover too large a field and too great a variety of details to admit of any 
doubt of their general accuracy in presenting a widespread and glaring 
inequality in the treatment of the two races in educational matters. Is it 
possible to believe that this inequality of treatment — this great injustice to 
the colored race (and consequent detriment to both races) — would exist 
if the exercise of the franchise were accorded to both races on perfectly 
p equal terms? No sane man can believe it possible. The present con- 

I dition exists not because white Southerners are by nature unjust, but be- 

cause they have so far departed from a true conception of democracy as 
to believe that one entire race or class in a community can safely be 
entrusted with the exclusive right of deciding what another race or class 
in the community shall have in the way of educational or other oppor- 
tunities. This is not putting too great a moral strain upon Southerners, 
merely, — it is putting too great a moral strain upon human nature. 



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